| Michael Carliner Links Housing Economist |
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- Census Bureau Housing and Demographic Data
A to Z Index
Construction Data (Permits, Starts, Sales, Value Put-In-Place, Prices)
Housing Data (Vacancies, Absorption, American Housing Survey)
- Rental Housing Finance Survey measured ownership and financing of rental properties
American Community Survey Ongoing large-sample collection of population and housing data previously
included in decennial census long form.
Current Population Survey Monthly survey (with annual demographic supplement) used to produce
unemployment rates, household estimates, homeownership, migration, etc.
Historical Decennial Census (Reports from 1790 to 2000)
DataFerret tool for accessing and tabulating microdata
IPUMS from Minnesota Population Center provides Census Bureau microdata, including the ACS, CPS
back to 1962, and decennial censuses back to 1850! It's easier than raw data files, but not for the faint of
heart.
American Factfinder access pre-formatted tables from decennial, ACS, and Economic Census.
Demographics (other than Census Bureau)
Dept of Homeland Security Immigration Statistics Note that DHS doesn’t count people based on when they
arrive, but on when they become classified as legal immigrants, etc.
National Center for Health Statistics-Vital Statistics Births, deaths, etc. with extensive detail. Marriage and
divorce data are there too, but since 1996 have been cut back and don’t include all states.
IRS Migration Data Address changes for taxpayers are a key input to Census population estimates. There
is additional detail, and caveats ignored by Census, here.
Population Reference Bureau Private non-profit
House Prices
FHFA House Price Index (formerly OFHEO) Repeat-sale national-state-metro quarterly (and some monthly)
data based on GSE loan records
Freddie Mac House Price Index (FMHPI), Repeat-sales index using essentially same data, with slightly
different methodology, as FHFA
S&P Case-Shiller Indices Repeat-sale, monthly, for 20 metros, based on sales
National Association of Realtors Existing home median, average prices, also existing home sales (closings)
and pending home sales (contracts)
New Home Prices and Sales from Census Bureau. Hedonic price indices (adjusted for changes in new
home characteristics) are based on the same new home sales data.
Zillow.com Free online automated appraisals, and Home Value Index
Marshall and Swift Construction Cost Data (part of CoreLogic)
R.S. Means Construction Cost Data
Pulsenomics conducts a survey of economists' house price expectations , based on Zillow index
Housing Finance
CoreLogic has data based on public records and servicing portfolios regarding home sales, foreclosures,
negative equity, and other good stuff, much of which is shown in public-available reports
Freddie Mac Economic Research, including weekly mortgage rate survey, refi data, and ARM shares
Fannie Mae analyses and survey reports
FHA Data from HUD include Single-Family Origination Trends, Monthly Production Report (including
multifamily) and Loan Performance Trends
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Industry Analysis
Federal Housing Finance Agency Monthly Interest Rate Survey with loan characteristics
Flow of Funds data from Federal Reserve shows outstanding debt and home equity. Note that household
ownership of rental real estate is counted under nonfinancial noncorporate business, rather than in
household real estate assets and mortgage debt. The Federal Reserve also conducts a quarterly Senior
Loan Officers Opinion Survey that measures whether home mortgage lending (and other lending) is being
tightened or loosened.
Hope Now , an alliance of mortgage industry firms, provides data on foreclosures and loan modifications
Mortgage Bankers Association Delinquency and other surveys, commentary, etc (some free). Sponsors the
Research Institute for Housing America, which produces reports and provides links.
Mortgage Metrics report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. (Link may not work in Google
Chrome, but should in other browsers.)
RealtyTrac measures of foreclosure activity
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data is available from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
U.S. Mortgage Insurers, (successor to Mortgage Insurance Companies of America) is a trade association for
private mortgage insurance.
- Urban Institute Housing Finance Policy Center provides monthly Housing Finance at a Glance report
Construction
National Association of Home Builders Economic and Housing Data, Analysis, including Housing Market
Index survey of builders' market perceptions. An NAHB subsidiary, Home Innovation Research Labs
(formerly NAHB Research Center) has information of building technology.
Builder Magazine Online version of Hanley-Wood magazine for Builders. Includes annual list of largest
builders.
Professional Builder, the other major trade magazine for builders, with its own list of top builders
NIST (Dept of Commerce, Nat Inst of Standards and Technology) Construction Information, including
building codes, fire issues, indoor air quality.
Manufactured Housing Institute They prefer that you don't call them mobile homes.
USG/Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction Index (survey of perceived trends)
- Construction employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Real Estate
National Association of Realtors tracks existing home sales, conducts surveys, etc. Its Institute of Real
Estate Management conducts surveys of rental property operating costs
MIT Center for Real Estate has analyses of residential and nonres properties
National Multifamily Housing Council looks at apartment trends and tracks largest rental property owners
and managers, but access to most material restricted to members.
Wells Fargo Real Estate and Housing Reports (Commercial and Residential)
Building Materials
APA – Engineered Wood Association: OSB, I-joists, etc. (APA used to stand for American Plywood
Association, until they found that wasn’t the wave of the future.)
CME Lumber Futures Prices. This provides a signal of trends in lumber prices. Futures can be used to
hedge against risk, as explained in my 1994 article, if used prudently.
Portland Cement Association Economic Research
Random Lengths – the premier source for data on lumber prices and wood markets. They don’t give out a
lot for free, but a few statistics may be found here.
U.S. Forest Service, acts like wood supply is no longer of interest. Home page doesn't feature reports from
Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA) or from Forest Products Laboratory
U.S. Geological Survey – includes information on cement, aggregates, gypsum, copper, iron and steel.
Producer Price Indices for building materials are shown in a table from Associated General Contractors ,
including codes for extracting historical values from BLS
Housing Policy and Analysis - Private Non-profits, Think Tanks, Advocates
American Dream Coalition Right-of-center perspectives on housing policy
Brookings Institution Housing Page
Urban Institute Housing Page
Joint Center for Housing Studies Harvard University
National Low Income Housing Coalition produces various reports including periodic "Out of Reach" reports
on affordability and provides links to various state-level reports. Its National Housing Preservation
Database tracks public and assisted housing
Local Initiatives Support Corporation helps local non-profit developers
National Housing Conference offers policy-related research
National Economic Data
Economic Indicators – Monthly Compendium prepared for Congressional Joint Economic Committee.
Downloadable versions of some of the same data are on a Census web site with the same name.
Bureau of Economic Analysis (Dept of Commerce) GDP and Other Data
BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) Home Page - Employment, Prices, Wages
Federal Reserve Economic Research and Data – Industrial Production, Flow of Funds, Interest Rates
State and Local Data
Building permits for states, metros, counties, and 20,000 individual permit-issuing jurisdictions (about half of
which report monthly)
BLS State and County employment by industry from Quarterly “Census” of Employment and Wages, based
mainly on unemployment insurance records from state agencies.
County Business Patterns Establishments and employees by industry. Industry classifications are probably
more consistent across states than alternative data from BLS. Some data are available by zip code.
Unemployment Insurance Claims Dept of Labor
USPS Vacancy Data provided by HUD--an interesting initiative with quarterly census tract data, but
vacancies are not measured consistently in different localities
HUD Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis for selected metro areas
Library of Congress Links to state and local government information sources
State Data Centers connected to U.S. Census Bureau
Association for University Business and Economic Researchers Look for links under "Member Search"
State Energy Data System from Department of Energy
National Center for Education Statistics Data on enrollment, etc.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics Includes information on transit, commuting and other household travel
See also links under prices, demographics, etc.
International
World Bank Data and Statistics
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) - look under "OECD.Stat Extracts"
United Nations Statistics Division
CIA World Factbook
IMF International Monetary Fund - their "World Economic Outlook" is particularly notable and free
Bank for International Settlements includes various studies and data related to banking, housing finance,
and housing, including property prices for some countries
Global Property Guide – Surprisingly good portal to house price data
European Mortgage Federation produces annual Hypostat report on housing and mortgage markets in
Europe
Housing Europe European public, cooperative and social housing
Meta Sites--Other Links
Resources for Economists (sponsored by American Economics Assn)
NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) Links for other sources for economists
AREUEA (American Real Estate and Urban Economics Assn) Links
Fedstats – Links to data from federal government
Data.gov A site "to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the
Executive Branch of the Federal Government." Another useful site is the Federal Digital System from the
Government Printing Office, with links to various government publication such as the Federal Register and
Congressional Record
Miscellaneous
Fed In Print - Search engine maintained by FRB San Francisco monitors reports from throughout Federal
Reserve system
Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) from Federal Reserve Bank of St
Louis, has historical documents and data, not limited to Fed reports.
NOAA Climate at a Glance – Includes information such as monthly temperature & precipitation averages by
state.
HUDUSER Portal to all data, research, publications from HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
- michael@michaelcarliner.com
240-899-0310